Its Name Is Gundam
PHASE 02
The 105 flew awkwardly out of the plant as it erupted into flames and smoke behind, the X-303 following. The two machines landed facing each other, the steel grey colours matching. The 303 took a dainty leap backwards to land, shaking the ground with its weight while the 105 landed unevenly, staggering forwards on unsteady legs.
"Shit..." Murrue muttered under her breath, tightening her hands around the machine's controls until her shoulder ached with the effort. The machine stumbled back unsteady again, it was a fight to keep it straight. The 303 stood unsure directly opposite of them, and then another mobile flew in between them, landing angled between the 303 and themselves.
"Athrun!" The pilot called cheerfully to the boy, face appearing on his screen.
"Rusty failed, Miguel." Athrun said grimly to his comrade, voice shaking a little over the communications link. His eyes narrowed a little, remembering the shot that had killed his friend. The pilot of the unit opposite of him had done it. His mind froze for a moment, as he realized just who else was also inside. 'Kira... Could it really be... You?'
"You'll come with me to the PLANTs later, won't you?"
"What happened to Rusty?" Miguel demanded angrily, hands curling around his controls impulsively. "And if he failed, who the hell's inside the 105?"
"Rusty was... Shot down." Athrun answered hesitantly, wincing as each word passed through his lips. He pulled his keyboard across his lap, hastily beginning to type as the letters G.U.N.D.A.M crossed the screen in yellow and blue letters. "The other unit, the 105, it's being piloted by an Earth Forces officer, we didn't get to it in time."
"Is that so?" Miguel asked through grit teeth, expertly moving his controls to pull out the gun that rested across his mobile's hips. He adjusted it and aimed. "Fine then, I'll deal with it!" He fired.
"God dammit!" Murrue yelled angrily, the shell struck the 105's leg with impressive force, sending it staggering backwards. A startled cry from the boy caught her attention, and his handhold on the iron bar above slipped and he fell literally into her lap. She hastily shoved him aside, moving her arms back roughly to try and stabilize the machine. 'This is harder than it looks...'
"Athrun!" Miguel called to his friend, locking his weapon before placing it back neatly behind him, "Finish the upgrades, then get outta here with that machine. I'll capture this one myself." With a fluid movement he took out the blade on the mobile's opposite hip, brandishing it expertly before charging.
"Oh no you don't!" Hissing, Murrue hit the thrusters, and the 105 took into the air for a short moment, narrowly avoiding the blow. The entire machine shook with the effort, nearly stumbling again. It straightened again, the weight of the controls proving harder to handle.
The GINN was charging again, moving much too quickly to be avoided this time. Sword held high, the mobile jumped into the air, and flew down straight at them.
"Ahh!" Kira cried out, eyes widening in shock at the machine grew bigger in the camera, bringing down certain death on him.
'I'm not dying here!' Murrue growled inwardly, eyes quickly sweeping over the controls. 'Start up, menu, main weapons...' The memory of the map of controls came back clearly into her mind as adrenalin continued to surge through her bloodstream. It was too close now. 'There!' She hurriedly reached forward, pressing the yellow switch that roamed the keyboard.
Colour suddenly flooded the grey and darker grey machine, the main body's armour turning a brilliant white as navy blue coloured the cockpit area. In a hurried movement the 105's arms were lifted, taking the blow between the cross made from its arms. Sparks flew into the air and a loud dangerous hiss filled their ears.
"This mobile suit's armour..." Kira said quietly, unable to believe his eyes. The sword's blow had been absorbed easily as though the armour had suddenly really become activated, taking the blow with little effort, only creating angry sparks. He heard a muffled moan of pain from below, and spotted the woman's sleeve now entirely coated with blood, a sheen of sweat on her forehead from the controlled strength she was using to stay conscious. 'She's hurt badly.'
"What the hell is with this thing!?" Miguel cursed angrily, kicking the 105 away from him, flying backwards quickly. "That armour blocked my blow! What's going on!?"
"It's called PHASE Shift armour, Miguel. All the units are equipped with it. Your sword's useless." Athrun warned him wearily, unsure of how the pilot had known to activate it just in time. Part of him breathed a silent sigh of relief, though anger creased his brow. 'This is frustrating! Kira... Are you in there or not?' He activated his own, and the 303 was immediately dyed crimson, save for the yellow and darker coloured joints.
An alert whined in his ears, and he turned hastily to see two missiles flying towards them. With ease he pressed two controls on his armrests and jerked his controls back to turn the 303 towards them. Gunfire erupted from the 303's head, easily destroying the missiles in mid-flight.
Grey smoke billowed out from the destroyed weapons, but the ringing of the alert didn't cease. He turned the 303 again, the sensors picking up a tank racing towards the trio of mobile units. He fluidly gripped his controls again, squeezing the trigger almost casually.
The gunfire erupted from its head again, lining down the cement before striking the car with impressive speed. The machine exploded into a fiery inferno once, before exploding again as the fuel ignited. 'Too easy...'
"Athrun, get out of here now and deliver that machine. You can't waste time here." Miguel ordered his comrade, eyes narrowing as he tightened his grip on his controls, glaring at the other machine. "Now Athrun!"
He hesitated. Athrun's gaze magnetically flicked over to the 105, which was still standing immobile, as if waiting for the next attack on still unsteady feet. 'Kira...' But his friend's voice rang in his ears, and he couldn't deny the logic behind his words. He had to go.
Swearing quietly, he roughly handled his controls and the 303 flew off into the air with easy lift, spiralling away and out of sight.
'It's gone.' Murrue thought uneasily, stomach churning as the hot blood from her shoulder continued to lazily trickle down her arm now. 'But that other one...' "Damn!" It was making another rush now.
Hands hard on the controls she jerked back fiercely, causing the 105 to respond clumsily. It took an uneasy step back, and the GINN fell on its feet nose to nose with the machine, sword still held tightly in its hand. It lashed out violently, hitting the 105 directly in the torso.
The 105 staggered back ungainly, having trouble regaining its ground. The GINN took quick advantage of that, lashing out twice more, each blow glancing off harmlessly, not able to make much more than scratches in the coloured armour, but the force enough to knock the enemy unit back.
Another blow, leaving a hissing roar in its wake as the force caused the 105 to stumble again. The GINN danced back, as if taunting its opponent. It hit the thrusters, roaring blue sparks falling back as it flew hard towards the 105, sword gleaming in the artificial sun.
"Not this time you don't!" Murrue roared angrily, and she squeezed her own triggers this time, gunfire erupted from the 105's head, striking the unprepared GINN in the shoulder.
'The calibration's off, she was aiming for the cockpit and it went too wide. The GINN is just too fast!' Kira inwardly commented, wincing backwards as the GINN charged forward once more, sword singing through the air as it slashed.
The 105 lifted its arm in defence, but the attempt didn't work as well as before, the GINN was prepared this time and lashed out with a punch to the 105's head. It staggered back again, crashing into the building that stood behind. The building crumbled and groaned under the 105's weight before giving in and caving in on itself, taking the suit with it.
"It doesn't matter how good your armour is." Miguel taunted with a snort, settling back as the 105 unsteadily got to its feet, the pieces of debris hitting the ground as the building continued to cave in, sending civilians running for cover. He held his sword with both hands now, preparing the lunge forward again. "If you can barely move that mobile suit's useless!" He pounced.
The 105 took a step backwards, approaching the crowd of civilians that had stopped to see the fight, foolishly risking their lives. Kira froze, recognizing the faces in the crowd that were watching in spellbound horror. 'Miriallia, Tolle, Sai!' the 105 took another step back, too close this time. Without thinking he lunged around the seat in front of the brunette, and pushed a red button which brought the 105 to its knees.
The sword harmlessly glanced off of its shoulder, sending a flurry of sparks as it narrowly missed impaling the other's head. He reached forward again, pushing the thruster forward. The 105 lurched in response, and then charged reminiscent of a football player, its shoulder hitting square with the GINN's chest. The GINN flew backwards when the force hit, landing in a pile of rubble.
"How did you..." Murrue started, eyes wide in shock as the boy moved the 105 to a standing position again with little effort, eyes still calmly focussed on the screen ahead. "What...?"
"There's way too many innocent people around here still." Kira grunted under his breath, moving the keyboard awkwardly to his knee, examining the screen with calculated interest as number and letter combinations began to scroll down. "I won't let them get hurt if I can make better use of this thing!"
He examined the incomplete formulas, frown becoming deeper as he realized the entire system wasn't completed. He watched from the corner of his eye as the GINN hesitantly began to try to stand up, the rubble making it difficult. "This is insane, how can you expect to run this thing with an incomplete OS?"
"It wasn't at the completion stage, there's nothing we can do about it." Murrue mumbled softly in her superior's defence, knowing it more than likely useless to say anything.
The GINN was up now, facing them directly. Kira growled, he couldn't get everything finished the way he was sitting. "Please move aside, I need to finish this!" She looked startled but nodded, hastily sliding out of the seat to the opposite side, and he quickly took her place, keyboard now resting in his lap.
'This kid... He's...' She watched with some awe as his fingers blazed across the keyboard, becoming blurs as he typed. He muttered to himself the entire time, eyes scanning the screen as numbers and letters scrolled down the screen, much too fast for her to read. The words he spoke made no sense to her, she could only watch in shock as he continued to work, the codes coming on the screen continuing to race with his speech.
The GINN was up again, and racing fast towards them. It covered quick ground, leaving only a trail of sparks in its wake from its thrusters. Kira stiffened, eyes narrowing as he both heard and saw it approach. Then his hands found the controls and he squeezed the triggers. Another flurry of gunfire exploded from the 105's head, striking the GINN head-on.
It slowed, more out of a surprise than the actual force of the bullets, coming to an awkward stop scant away from the 105. Then it seemed to freeze before coiling again, it pounced again with more speed than before, sword singing its deadly song through the air.
Kira jerked on the controls with a disconcertingly fast motion, the 105 angled to the side, easily avoiding the sword and then with its other shoulder it punched. the 105's hand sank into the GINN's 'face', sending a rush of red sparks into the air coupled with the sound of crunching metal under its fist.
The GINN flew backwards, this time the force sent it into the next building, taking it down along with it. Kira didn't waste time, quickly resuming his typing, muttering quietly to himself as he applied the directions to the system. The screen changed constantly with his typing, and he kept the steady pace up.
He didn't stop typing, well aware of the stunned silence of the woman in the corner, but he ignored that too. 'C'mon... Nearly... There...' The main screen appeared once more, the large black words rolling across the centre; 'SYSTEM UPGRADED' he took time to breathe a sigh of relief.
More fire erupted suddenly, hitting the 105 with impressive force. He forced his hands outward, steadying the shaking mobile suit. He grit his teeth, eyes narrowing and then pressed his foot down to activate the thrusters. He pressed forward with his hand and the 105 jumped into the air, thrusters burning blue.
The gunfire followed, and suddenly the GINN was in the air as well, following with a deafening roar of more gunfire. He swore, clicking the link to offensive weapons, hurriedly scrolling down the screen at it loaded. Only two icons appeared, the bold print making it seem larger than it really was. 'Vulcan Guns and Assault Knives?' "That's all there is?!"
He landed, and the GINN was right on his tail, ready to stab again. But a sudden explosion of gunfire struck the GINN's shoulder, sending it flying backwards. "What?" He turned the 105 quickly, and his eyes widened at what he saw.
Another mobile suit stood by the corner of the ruined building, similar white frame but with a blue and grey armour scheme. It resembled the 105's basic body structure but the armour seemed thicker on the shoulder, leg, and chest. It held two knives in each hand, small plumes of smoke twirling over its head, green eyes blazing.
A chuckle suddenly sounded in their ears, and a friendly voice called cheerfully, "Calvary's here!"
"Dammit!" Mu roared as his hands yanked hard on his units' controls, jerking forwards to get a harder thrust from the Zero as he raced after Creuset's white and grey mobile. It moved in a breakneck fashion, trying to avoid the four gun-barrels he was using to chase after him.
He inwardly winced when he realized he was alone again, it was just him and Creuset fighting each other now. He'd watched as soon as the gunfire began as Halberton ran back to the ship, securing his Moebius alongside him.
They had launched together and held the fort for only a few precious minutes before explosions from inside the colony alerted them. the attack outside was simply a diversion.
"Somebody's gotta get in there!"
"And get your ass shot down trying?! Shut up and work on what we've got here!"
The argument had lasted exactly thirty seconds, Justin had never followed orders and he wasn't about to start now. He'd angled his Zero down, and made a straight shot for the colony. He'd blasted through the hangers and vanished.
Mu remembered yelling at him, telling to him to stop and come back, the communications had gone through... And now they were dead. The unit's signal had been lost, and he was sure it was destroyed now. The thought brought a fresh wave of pain to him, but he shrugged it aside as he continued to chase down the CGUE that Creuset was piloting. "Dammit, I'll take you down!"
"It seems like fate doesn't it Mu La Flaga?" Le Creuset taunted with a soft laugh, flying expertly out of Mu's range, all the while keeping a steady stream of gunfire aimed at the Zero.
"Shut up!" Mu roared angrily, hitting the thrusters hard to propel the orange machine through the black reaches of space towards the white/grey unit. It easily avoided him, flying through the blackness out of reach before letting loose fire again. The gun-barrels separated again, flying independently alongside him.
"You always seem to be getting in my way Mu La Flaga!" He taunted again, pulling back to avoid the fire that was shooting at him from the gun-barrels with incredible ease. "Though I can imagine you say the same about me!"
"Burn in hell you bastard!"
He chased down the machine, but it was just too quick, swerving in and out of reach to force him to follow. The hectic and hellish dance of the machines forced them closer and closer to the colony, and he followed willingly. The CGUE suddenly took a quick turn, flying down through the opening on the colony's hanger and into Heliopolis.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Mu exclaimed to himself, flying stationary for a few long moments as he stared into the open hanger. "He's going inside?"
He hovered there, uncertain for a few long moments. 'If I follow there's a good risk I won't make it out of there...'
"You only live once dude, take risks and kick ass while you still can."
'Nobody said it better than you Justin.' Mu commented with a little inward smile, and he dipped the nose of the Zero and shot into the hanger in chase.
Inside Heliopolis
A dead weight nudged her in the chest, bringing her back to her senses as her back touched the cold steel wall above her, she was weightless, drifting. She opened her eyes, wincing a little when the ache set up in her body. 'Ugn... What the hell?' Floating just below her was a corpse, blood leaking from the ears, nose, and mouth of the dead soldier.
Violet eyes widening in shock, she gently eased the corpse away, floating back down to the ground with little effort. She looked away, covering a hand over her mouth as her stomach impulsively heaved. 'Ugn... Dammit...' She looked around, realizing she was in the dark. 'The... The blast?'
Her memory slowly began to return, first beginning with the series of alerts that had begun to ring out in the hall.
"Ensign Badgiruel, contact Lieutenant Ramius immediately!"
"Yessir!"
'And then the explosion...' She vaguely remembered being lifted off her feet and slammed into the wall, but then nothing but a blur after that. She winced again, rubbing her neck and shoulder. 'That's going to bruise later...' She closed her eyes, giving herself a moment to adjust.
"Where's... Where's the ArchAngel?" Badgiruel looked around in confusion, still taking her bearings. It was dark, debris, pieces of clothing and shrapnel floated around the empty hallway, making it only seem more lifeless. 'A better question, where am I?'
She pushed off from the floor after her dizziness settled, floating quickly down the long black corridor in search for someone, anyone, alive. Her sense of direction flew back to her, and she realized she was now in the main hall, where the computers had been.
Most of the room had been entirely obliterated, the computer screens destroyed and entirely wiped away from the desks. More debris floated aimlessly around, she was thankful the bodies had either been incinerated or hidden underneath the fallen cement and metal. She risked her luck. "Is anyone here? Anybody?"
Her voice echoed off the empty room, the only answer to her quiet call. She sighed raggedly. 'Dead... All of them?' A cap went floating by, she quickly recognized it to be her captain's. Reaching out with trembling hands she caught it, and winced when she saw the bloodstain in the fabric.
"No dammit..." She hissed, closing her eyes as tears of remorse threatened to close her throat. The crew, the soldiers, everyone was just... Gone. So quickly. 'Too quickly. Nobody deserves to die like that.' She swallowed back the knot forming in her throat and called again weakly, "Are there any survivors?"
Still no answer.
She sighed weakly, half ready to simply give up and give in. A soft knocking caught her attention, she whirled quickly. The far wall where the doors had been was where the sound was coming from. The knocking grew louder and suddenly the doors simply flew off the sides and into the wall, revealing a small group of soldiers. One shone a flashlight into the room, Badgiruel sighed in relief.
"Ensign Badgiruel?" One of them called uncertainly, lowering the flashlight to get a better view of her face. "Ah, thank god you're alright."
"Officer Neumann?" Badgiruel called back in confusion, and when he nodded she sighed quietly again in relief. Finally, a friendly, and alive, face. She followed him hastily, and he informed her of what was going on the entire way.
"There aren't many survivors, just a few of us that were lucky enough to be onboard the ship at the time." Neumann explained quietly, showing her the miraculously still surviving ship that had been hidden away in the hanger. She followed him in, and he continued, "Most of them are factory workers though..."
"Any news on our status? Or the ZAFT ships?" She inquired, now that the ache was gone and there was some order the first priority was to understand just what the hell they were all dealing with. "Anything?"
"No idea really. We've been busy trying to get ourselves into some sort of order. Most of us really have no idea what happened beyond the explosions." He answered sheepishly, glancing around the dark ship. She was leading now, and they entered the bridge.
She floated down to the control station, examining the dark controls with what little light the flashlights gave them. She sighed and finally pressed a short combination, inwardly quipping, 'And then there was light...' The lights immediately flickered to life, and the computers began to start up with a low hum.
The status of the ship immediately came online, a damage report automatically coming up onto the screen. She surveyed the reports, a small smile lifting her dark lips. "This ArchAngel... She's quite the ship, barely enough of a scratch on her. It'd certainly take a hell of a lot more to sink her."
"But there's a mountain of debris in front of us Ensign." Neumann reminded her with a pained expression, gesturing to the windows of the bridge where it could easily be seen. "It's entirely blocking off the exit. We're trapped in here."
She frowned a little, turning back to the keyboard. Typing in another combination, she watched as a channel was opened, but static filled the screen and the bridge. "The airwaves are still being jammed, so there's still a battle going on... So this was a diversion. Morgenroete, the Gs, those must be ZAFT's true target then... It makes sense, but what's happening there now?"
Heliopolis
Justin smirked, unable to really help himself. 'I can't believe my luck... Crashing the Zero was a smart move I guess, I never got shot.' He winced, the memory of the crash still fresh in his muscles. His neck ached something fierce, he was fairly sure he was suffering from minor whiplash.
'Crashing the Zero got me on the ground... Then the real fun began.' He remembered racing across the grounds to where the secret weapons were stored, and then shooting down the pilots that had tried to stop him. Getting in was the trouble, he'd easily fixed the mostly completed OS system and running it was simple. And now he'd been able to walk in on the battle between the X-105 Strike and the grunt GINN unit, things were really going his way now.
His hands curled loosely around his controls again, watching as the GINN turned to face him. He smirked. "Alright then... Let's play then, shall we?" He hit the thrusters hard, sending the 106 flying fast towards the GINN. He hit it square in the chest, before both hands holding the knives sunk deep into the torso. He pulled away quickly, watching it explode into a firestorm of debris and flames.
'Good...' He sighed, running his ungloved hand through the mess of his dark auburn hair. He settled into his chair, and quickly shut the 106 off to conserve what was left of the power. He noticed the 105 watching him wearily, and couldn't hide a grin. 'Well hopefully they don't shoot me.'
The cockpit hissed open and he gracefully hopped out and sat on the edge of the door, waving to the 105. Cupping a hand around his mouth, he yelled cheerfully, "Oi! I'm one of the good guys! Don't shoot!"
The Strike paused, before slowly walking towards him, and then it stopped, still a good distance away. The cockpit opened, revealing a boy sitting in the piloting seat with a woman behind him. Slowly the woman edged out and hung onto the line with one arm as it lowered to the ground, the boy followed her out quickly afterwards.
Justin hopped to the ground with a sigh, pocketing his hands and he slowly made his way over to the two. His mouth was set in a line as thoughts began to swirl in his head. 'One of them is an Earth Forces soldier... The other one's a kid, not any older than seventeen at least... This is strange, even by my standards...'
Then he froze as the two came closer, eyes widening in sheer disbelief as the woman's features came into focus. Pale skin, marigold eyes and chocolate brown hair. His shock melted into a bright grin. "Murrue!"
"Justin?" Murrue asked in surprise, not expecting to hear the familiar voice of her older friend. He crossed the distance in a few short seconds and immediately wound his arms around her. She gasped in pain, her shoulder crying out in protest against the sudden contact.
Justin immediately let her go, seeing the bloodied mess her shoulder had become. He frowned. "You got shot?" She just nodded, they had time for reunions later. His frown became deeper when she spoke quietly, "Must have been hard to pilot with a shot shoulder."
"I... Didn't pilot." Murrue mumbled softly, glancing over her shoulder at the boy who was standing silently behind them. "He did."
Justin's frown darkened as he looked from the brunette to the boy, and he folded his arms. "You piloted?" The boy didn't look at him, seemingly absorbed in thought. He shook his head and asked again, "Kid, did you pilot that machine?"
"Yes, I did." Kira answered with narrowing eyes, not understanding or really trusting the man for some reason. He looked civil enough, he was wearing white pants and a blue shirt, military issue jacket around his waist. But either it was the coldness in his emerald eyes or the way his mouth was set, something about him made him suspicious. "And my name is Kira. Kira Yamato."
"I'm Halberton, Justin Halberton." Justin introduced himself cheerfully, though the tone didn't meet his eyes, they remained cold on the teenager. He looked over at Murrue, she'd turned another shade whiter, hand gripping her injured shoulder tightly to stop the bleeding. He sighed. "Murrue, you need to get that bandaged..." His gaze went back to the boy. "Inside the Strike, under the pilot's seat, there should be a first-aid kit. Can you get it for her?"
He measured Justin strangely, then looked back to Murrue. He sighed, and turned around, heading back towards the Strike. He easily climbed back inside, watching from a distance as the auburn haired man sat the woman down at the bench and undid her jumpsuit to look at her shoulder.
He fetched the kit, being careful to walk slowly. He was sure he'd seen a holster at the man's side, he knew he'd seen one at the woman's. He reached them, and when he saw the amount of blood that covered the shirt beneath her jumpsuit. He grimaced.
"It only looks worse than it is." Justin told him cheerfully, opening the kit after Kira handed it to him. He found the bandages and first washed away the blood with the bottled water, ignoring the brunette's gasp of pain. He bandaged her shoulder quickly, knotting it messily but it did the job and stopped the bleeding.
"Hurts like a bitch regardless..." Murrue growled quietly, ignoring Justin's chuckles. She winced again, looking around before her gaze settled on the X-106. "You managed to get that one out?"
"I crashed my Zero, managed to get in without being detected. Saw the fight and figured somebody might as well steal it." Justin answered nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders mightily before his gaze fixed on Kira again, eyes intense. "And I notice you got yourselves one as well."
"Not by choice." Kira answered harshly, voice turning hard and eyes narrowing a little in return to the reply.
"He saved my life Justin." Murrue murmured for the boy, and she noticed his face softened a little at her words and he glanced at her with a small little smile. She sighed. Then she heard voices calling out from a distance.
"Is that Kira?"
"Kira!"
"Kira! You're alright!"
She watched with surprise as a group of teenagers came racing over to them, a girl in an orangish dress leading the pack. She immediately jumped into Kira's arms, hugging him so tightly she was fairly sure the boy was having trouble breathing. The other three boys caught up with her, the one with glasses taking his turn thumping the boy hard on the back. Next the other brunette gave him another hug, then the blue haired one traded a high five with him.
"Thank god you're okay, after we lost you it was a disaster!" The girl exclaimed in relief, wrapping her arms around Kira again. The boy managed to hug her back awkwardly, but a gentle smile lifted his lips, his relief to seeing them again just as great. "You are okay right?"
"Yeah, I'm okay Miri..." Kira mumbled back softly, finally letting her go and looking around. 'Sai, Tolle, Kuzzey, Miri... Everybody's okay.'
"Who are they?" Kuzzey asked in a failed attempt for a whisper, looking over at the two soldiers in surprise.
"Lieutenant Halberton and Lieutenant Ramius." Justin answered cheerfully, though once again, the tone didn't meet his eyes. "Your friend here saved my friend's life."
"You did?" Tolle demanded in shock, looking from the injured Murrue to Justin before back to Kira. Then his gaze turned to the empty street, where the two huge machines were standing. He gasped loudly, reeling backwards instinctively at the sight of the mobile suits. "Wow!"
"What are those?" Sai asked slowly, now following his shocked friend's gaze to the mobile suits. He took a step forward, hoping to examine them farther. A sudden yell of a bullet whizzed by his foot and he jumped up in alarm. The group in unison turned to look at Murrue, who was holding a gun in her good hand, eyes narrowing as she glared at them.
Justin sighed raggedly, shaking his head a little as Murrue got to her feet, gun still held steady. He commented huskily, "C'mon Murrue, put it away, that's a bit extreme."
"Don't be such an idiot, you know what's going to happen just as well as I do." Murrue snapped, eyes narrowing a little as she looked each of the teenagers in the eyes in turn. She felt her shoulder ache, and looked directly at Kira. He was standing protectively in front of the girl, hands curled tightly at his sides, mouth set in anger. She sighed softly in regret, sand spoke firmly, "I'm thankful for what you did, I honestly am... But I can't help what I have to do now. You've been exposed to a top-secret military project, I can't let you leave now."
"What?!" Tolle gasped out loud again, unable to believe what he'd just heard. "So what are you gonna do to us!?"
"This has to a joke, we're not involved in the military anyway!" Kuzzey exclaimed worriedly, looking from the gun to the other officer, who was just standing there with an amused smile on his face.
"Yeah, we're civilians!"
A shot into the air quieted them quickly, and Murrue sighed, dropping the gun to her side with a look of defeat on her face. "As long as you've been exposed to those machines, it means I can't let you go as a soldier following regulations. So it means that until I can speak with my supervisors, none of you can leave my sight. All of you are under my supervision until further notice."
Before the chaos could start up again, Justin smoothly interrupted, "I believe that's where you're wrong Murrue. Since I'm technically you're senior officer, the kids are my trouble." She looked at him in shock and he shot her a wink before looking back to the kids. He sighed and pocketed his hands, examining them each in turn. "Let's start off on the right foot then, shall we? Things will go plenty smoother if we all just act civil. Let's start with your names."
"I'm Miriallia Haww." Miri answered hesitantly, unsure of what to say as she looked from the brunette woman then back to the seemingly genteel auburn haired man.
"Tolle Koenig."
"Kuzzey Buskirk."
"Sai Argyle."
Kira didn't answer, merely glared him down until Justin shrugged and sighed. "Look..." He finally muttered, hands up in the air for a few moments before they went back into his pockets, "I don't like this anymore than any of you do. But it's regulation. Those things over there," he jerked his thumb towards the still units, "are top-secret and the highest priority to us soldiers. So anybody exposed to them will ultimately have to stay with us until our superiors tell us what we have to do."
"I don't believe you." Kira's voice whipped out harshly, hands curling into tight fists at his sides as his violet eyes glared into Justin's calmly surprised ones. "You're convincing and all, but you're not giving us any reassurances on our safety. I'm not going anywhere until I know all the details."
"Kira–" Murrue started quietly, but she fell short when Justin raised his hand to quiet her. She fell silent immediately, and focussed her marigold eyes on her lap.
"Look kid, I've got all the legal rights to make you your friends go wherever the fuck I want you to go." Justin snapped back, emerald eyes cold chips of ice and face set in a deep frown. "I'm also well in my rights to shoot you if you decide to resist or try to run."
"Justin!" Murrue exclaimed in surprise, completely taken aback by his abrupt change in behaviour and cold words. Despite what he said being true, she couldn't imagine he'd be so harsh with the teenagers.
"He wanted the whole story." Justin answered in a clipped voice, eyes narrowing a little as he returned Kira's angry stare. He folded his arms and continued harshly, "We have the law on our sides kid. It's bad enough that your friends over there even saw the machine, another entirely that you piloted it."
"You piloted it Kira?" Miri asked slowly, voice quivering as she broken the fragile silence that had quickly fallen on the group from the lieutenant's harsh words. They all turned to look at the silent brunette boy.
"I did." He answered angrily, violet eyes burning as he glared at the ground now.
"I'm sorry it's gotten to this, kid." Justin said quietly, voice abruptly changing from harsh to apologetic. His eyes were focussed on Kira now, his words entirely sincere as he spoke. "I'm sure you piloted the Strike with good intentions, but it's out of my hands now. I don't have a choice in what I'm doing. It's regulation and I can't argue with that."
"If we comply with everything you saw, and don't cause trouble... What happens to us?" Tolle asked quietly, breaking the silence for the second time.
"If you follow our orders and behave, then nothing will happen." Justin answered with an idle shrug. "And when our superiors have words with you, we'll take it from there."
"And if they don't want to release us?" Kira pressed, not satisfied with the short answer, resentment obvious in his voice.
"It's best we cross that bridge when we get there." Justin answered with an idle shrug, though the confidence in his voice fell flat. The silence settled again.
Murrue was quick to call them to order, gently asking the boys to go back to what was left of the factory and search out the remaining trucks that may still be intact. They followed her orders obediently, eying Justin uncertainly as they quickly followed the road back to the Morgenroete.
Kira went to the Strike with Miriallia on orders, and quickly opened the communications channel. Static crackling filled his ears, and the screen displayed nothing but a fuzzy picture. He sighed softly after five minutes of long nothing, and called out, "There's nothing working, the airwaves must be jammed!"
"Alright... Try again five minutes then Kira." Murrue called back, running her hand through her hair. She swore quietly under her breath, before turning to see Justin sprawled out on the bench, eyes focussing on the ceiling of the low structure that the bench was in. "You're really helping you know."
He didn't answer, closing his eyes and shrugging his shoulders.
"You were too harsh with them." Murrue scolded angrily, knowing that the teenagers were more than likely terrified now of what could be happening to them simply because they were reunited with their friend at the wrong time. "You probably scared the hell out of each and every one of them, why the hell were so you blunt?"
"They needed a healthy dose of reality." Justin answered simply, sitting up fluidly and looking her straight in the eyes, his serious. "Just because they're civilians, just because they're kids, just because they live in a Neutral area, it means they're immune to war? What do they really think just happened to Heliopolis?"
"That's besides the point Justin, they're still kids." Murrue stressed on the last word, sitting down beside him. Her pained expression reflected the guilt and resentment she was feeling, and she muttered angrily, "It's not fair of us to suddenly drop this on them. They're scared, confused, worried... You could have said it much more gently."
"Ah so shooting at them falls under the 'gentle' category?" Justin asked with raised eyebrows, disbelief written all over his handsome features. "C'mon Murrue, you can do better than that." She didn't anser, merely swore again and glared at the ground. "Civilians... They don't really get the full gravity of what war is. I don't have any sympathy for them just because they're kids."
"You were sixteen once." Murrue reminded him with a gentle whack to the back of his head, mouth set in a firm line. Her voice was serious when she added, "Just try to think about how you'd feel if you were in their shoes. Have some sympathy."
"Can't promise you anything..."
"Are you serious Ensign? How can we possibly manage to launch the ship with so much debris in front of us?" Officer Neumann exclaimed in shock, staring at the raven-haired woman with a mix of awe and confusion.
"Of course I'm serious." She snapped back, hands curling at her sides. "If we're really the only ones left, do you think we'd best spend our time sitting around here and hoping for somebody to come to our rescue or kill us? I don't think so."
"But there's so few crew-members who actually have any idea of what they're doing..."
"Then put your time to good use an figure out what to do." Badgiruel snapped, anger evident in her voice and posture and she examined the screen on the armrest of the captain's chair, where she was currently sitting. Her voice grew lower, but the frustration still evident, "Morgenroete could still be under attack for all we know. I refuse to sit here waiting for the news to come to us."
"We rounded up the crew-members Ensign, but..."
"Just get to your stations and follow the instructions on your screens." She ordered, voice ringing out in the mostly empty bridge, hands curling into fists as her mind crazily began to run through the sequences she'd memorized from the books. 'Good load the books do, it's not as if I've ever done this before... It's mostly luck from here on out...'
"But there's still ZAFT forces massed outside Heliopolis Ensign, we're not in any position to engage them." Neumann insisted, obviously having no faith in what they were about to do.
"Do you honestly think I'm not aware of that?" She shot back scathingly, eyes narrowing a little in annoyance. "When the ship comes online have her ready to fire the assault cannons. You want to get through the debris don't you?" Even as she spoke, a small kernel of anxiety was growing in her stomach. 'Luck... It all comes down to luck...'
He snorted indignantly but slammed himself into the navigator's chair regardlessly. His hands settled around the wheel and he muttered under his breath, "We're all going to die."
"Alright people, commence the launching sequence. Because we're low on time let's omit C-30 though L-21 from the process." Badgiruel ordered, careful to keep her voice level despite the worry that was growing. "Main power, online."
"Output increase is stable... 450 seconds till required rating..."
"Still too long." She growled under her breath, the humming of the ship's main engine beginning to grow louder as the time passed by, each precious second gone. "How are the Conduits to Morgenroete?"
"Undamaged ma'am."
"Then draw power through them, we can't waste any time. Get them online and relay the power."
"Yes ma'am." It took a few more seconds, but she watched with a soft sigh of relief as the time drastically changed. "Life support system is normal, CIC is online and stable... Weapons systems online and fully functioning, FCS contact initiated. Everything is functioning and stable, we're online and ready. Launch preparations are complete."
"Seal the airtight bulkheads. All hands prepare for sudden impact and for possible damage to the ship." She ordered, fastening her own seatbelt as she spoke. 'And hold on tight, this is going to get crazy very fast.' "Advance with caution, we can't afford to screw up now."
The engines hum grew to a dull roar, brightening to blue as they were activated. The white ship began to push forward, debris being nudged aside as the ship made her way through the dark tunnel. Smaller pieces of metal were easily pushed away, but the larger ones stayed still and scraped along the sides of the ArchAngel's armour, the shrill sound of the contact enough to send chills down anyone's spines. And it continued on.
In the opposite end of the colony the Moebius Zero sped through the dark tunnels connecting the hangers, gun-barrels unloaded and flying in file behind it. Mu swore quietly, hands gripping tightly around his controls. "Dammit... Why here of all places?"
The grey and white CGUE literally danced circles around his Zero, firing casually towards him but never hitting its mark. The mocking action only served to infuriate the blond pilot more.
"Dammit you bastard!" Mu roared angrily, slamming hard on the thrusters and chasing the CGUE at breakneck speed. It seemed to only really make the chase more fun for his rival, who happily danced in and out of reach again, laughing.
"It's a pity you have to die here Mu, I'd have preferred a better challenge!" Le Creuset yelled back to him, angling his gun with ease and letting loose a flurry of fire.
The Zero pulled back with impressive speed, but not quickly enough for the gun-barrels which followed through. The fire hit the first one, quickly causing it to explode into a mess of shrapnel. He grit his teeth, and began the chase again. The CGUE grew more aggressive, and jumped into the line of fire to actually literally jump onto the second gun-barrel. That exploded as well.
"Damn you!"
The CGUE pulled out its gun once more, this time aiming for the wall that the Zero was flying along. There was no chance for evasion as soon as the trigger was pulled, the fire struck the wall, and the CGUE quickly followed the hole out into the colony itself.
He stopped mid-flight, camera focussing in on the two trucks that were pulled up aside the two units similar to his won but yet so radically different. The first unit, the 105 was sitting back into the truck, looking as though it was in the process of equipping whatever was inside. The second was also in a similar position, though the equipment looked as though it was already attached.
'The two remaining units... This must be it...' Without a second thought he dove down towards the trucks to get abetter angle. The civilians below immediately hit the ground running, and he couldn't hide a small smile. 'Fools...' And he opened fire.
The second mobile suits stood, a long navy gun attached to its arm. It took aim and he quickly pulled back aside, avoiding the incoming blow that was never fired. He grit his teeth, the easy fake-out having fooled him. His hands curled tightly around his controls, eyes narrowing behind his mask. 'Not again!'
His hands curled around his controls, fingers reaching for the trigger when a devastating blast suddenly ripped through the colony, sending smoke billowing up from the ground. Fire blew out from a hill, and the buildings that had been there a moment before suddenly vanished. He froze for a split second, then quickly manoeuvred himself away. A white ship suddenly lifted out of the smoke, flying by his unit with a little care for what had just happened. He hovered alongside it, confused for a long moment. 'What in the world...?'
AN
Lol, I tried, that's really all I can say for that. The ending seemed a little bit rushed, did anybody else feel that? It just gets so long (cue epic sweatdrop) I am so spoiled with my short (as my sis so lovingly call hers) candyfloss chapters, I've forgotten how to write a real action/drama fic. Woot, more practise I guess. Pass a review my way if you feel the need please!
Sky